The subject matter described and/or illustrated herein relates generally to crimp tooling for a terminal crimping machine.
Electrical terminals are often used to terminate to the ends of wires. Such electrical terminals typically include an electrical contact and a crimp barrel. The crimp barrel includes an opening that receives an end of the wire therein. The crimp barrel is crimped around the end of the wire to establish an electrical connection between the one or more conductors of the wire and the terminal as well as to mechanically hold the electrical terminal on the wire end. When crimped over the wire end, the crimp barrel establishes an electrical connection between the conductor(s) of the wire and the electrical contact.
Conductors of wires are often fabricated from copper. However, as the cost of copper has risen, aluminum has been considered as an alternative conductor material. However, aluminum is not without disadvantages. For example, one disadvantage of using aluminum as a conductor material is an oxide layer that may build on the exterior surface of the conductor. Such an oxide layer has relatively poor electrical conductivity. Accordingly, the oxide layer must be penetrated to the base material to establish a reliable electrical connection between the conductor and the electrical terminal.
Another disadvantage of aluminum is electrochemical corrosion. Many electrical terminals are used within environments that may expose the terminal and the wire crimped thereto to moisture. For example, electrical terminals are often used within automobiles and other vehicles that operate in salt-aqueous environments. Exposure of a conductor to moisture may cause the conductor to corrode. For example, moisture that infiltrates a crimp interface between a conductor and a crimp barrel may cause the conductor to experience electrochemical corrosion, and thereby begin to dissolve. Moreover, the end of many conductors is exposed at an end of the crimp barrel of the electrical terminal, for example through an opening within the end of the crimp barrel and/or because the end of the conductor extends past the end of the crimp barrel. Such exposed ends of conductors may experience corrosion from exposure to moisture within the operating environment of the electrical terminal. Corrosion is thus an issue when using aluminum as a conductor material. Moreover, the electrical terminal is optionally fabricated from copper based alloyed materials. In the electrochemical series, copper and aluminum have a large difference in electrochemical potential, which indicates a high driving force for a corrosive reaction. Under hostile environments the corrosion rate could be rapid. Corrosion may therefore be especially problematic when terminating aluminum conductors to copper-based electrical terminals. A known attempt at prohibiting electrochemical corrosion includes preventing or reducing the exposure of a conductor to moisture. For example, attempts have been made to seal the wire using the crimp barrel, which extends the full length of the exposed conductors and forms a seal at the end of the wire. However, crimping such wire barrels is difficult and may require special tooling.